Somniphobia
by M.Koffe
Summary: Jason has somniphobia, Dick shows him there is nothng to be afraid of.


**Part two of this fic is called Mornings.  If you haven't already, feel free to check it out.**

**Hope you guys like this short little fic. :D**

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Jason was afraid to sleep. Somniphobia? Hypnophobia?

After being dead, the thought of sleep made him anxious. He was fearful of never waking up, and dying once more. Death was like a long sleep, or that was all that he remembered of it. Maybe he remembered more, and just did not want to think about it.

He had been fearful of sleep ever since he realized what had happened, and became fully aware of his situation. Aware that he had died and came back, and for a time after his phobia developed he had wished he had stayed dead. Asleep and unafraid.

Jason was alone. His entire family had abandoned him. And the lack of sleep – no amount of coffee can make the body feel refreshed after a week without shut eye.

He did not know what he was doing, not aware of what his body was doing. How much it needed to fall asleep. Harmless, for a few hours. But no, his will power would not all his body to do so. Instead, other plans raced through his tired mind as he prayed for sleep.

Guns.

His apartment was full of them. He could do it, he could go back to that so called eternal sleep. Jason wanted to die again, just so that sleep would come to him.

Guns. He had guns. He could shoot himself and no one would know. If he died, he'd be just another nameless suicide.

Jason walked out into the cold night. He stood on his balcony and placed the mouth of the gun against the bottom of his chin. He gazed up at the stars. Not all of them, but the ones that could shine bright enough and challenge the horrible lights of the polluted city. The few stars strong enough to glitter through space, hundreds and thousands of miles away and still have the strength to shine on a useless little planet.

"What are you doing?" Nightwing was perched on the balcony railing.

Jason slowly brought his arm down, "Going to sleep."

"Well, you're doing it wrong." Dick stepped down from the railing, only to have Jason point his gun at him as soon as his feet touched the ground. Dick brought his hands up, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"How do I know that?" Jason growled, ready to shoot.

"Your eyes," Dick ignored Jason's question, he was busy examining his younger brother's facial features to realize that he even said anything. "When was the last time you fell asleep?"

"I..I don't remember." Jason shook his head. He dropped his gun, wrapped his arms around himself. Almost panicking, almost ready to dash past Nightwing and pounce over the railing.

"Jay." Dick took a step, and noticed that Jason was not going to hurt him. He took a few more light steps and embraced Jason. "Why can't you sleep?" Nightwing whispered in a low voice.

Jason did not respond, he placed his head on Dick's shoulders, searching for the right words. No words would come, none. He was too exhausted to think right, to exhausted to churn the words into a sentence.

Dick continued to speak, "It's okay." he comforted, running his hands up and down Jason's back. "It's okay...I'll sleep with you. I'll stay up all night and make sure you're fine when you wake up. You don't have to be afraid."

Unsure how to respond, Jason chewed at his bottom lip and stated, "How can I trust you?"

"Because I haven't proven to you that I am worth being trusted." Dick challenged. "Nothing will happen, I'll make sure you wake up the next morning alive."

Jason nodded, and his body went limp in the acrobat's arms. Dick smiled softly to himself and lifted Jason over his shoulder and carried him back into the apartment where he laid him down on the bed.

The next morning Jason woke up to the sound of the birds chirping outside his apartment window and for once he did not want to take his gun and shoot them. He opened his eyes and saw Dick smiling down at him.

"Good morning." Dick greeted.

"You were here all night?" Jason inquired, rubbing his eyes s they adjusted to the light.

"Of course I did." Dick grinned, stroking the side of Jason's face. "You still look pretty bad, I'll stay here with you for a couple of more days. If that's okay with you?"

Sitting up, Jason decided, "I'd like that."


End file.
